I finished reading a Christmas gift, Benedict XVI's "Saved in Hope." I had skimmed it when it first came out, but this time gave it more time, and took notes as I read it on various flights over the last week. It brought me to tears. Here's a couple of choice quotes to consider in this Christmas season in which we celebrate God-with-us:

"...to accept the "other" who suffers means that I take up his suffering in such a way that it becomes mine also. Because it has now become a shared suffering, though, in which another person is present, this suffering is penetrated by the light of love. The Latin word con-solatio, "consolation", expresses this beautifully. It suggests being with the other in his solitude, so that it ceases to be solitude ... Man is worth so much to God that he himself became man in order to suffer with man in an utterly real way - in flesh and blood - as is revealed to us in the account of Jesus' passion. Hence in all human suffering we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence con-solatio is present in all suffering, the consolation of God's compassionate love - and so the star of hope rises." Spe Salvi, pp. 80-81, 82-83

Who in your life is suffering? Are you willing to "suffer with" them, out of love?